I got busted doing 75mph on the new Carlow bypass a few dys ago. I thought I was fine at the time because I had seen the big blue signs for the "M9" so I assumed the motorway speed limit applied. On the way back I saw that it is a 100mph speed limit (I don't know the reason).

Anyway, the point is that the Gardai continue to shoot fish in a barrel by clocking people on safe roads in the late afternoon when the damage is being done on the secondary roads in the wee hours. They continue to alienate the public and discredit themselves with this lazy attitude to law enforcement.

On the way back there was a bit of drizzle and it was past 8pm. Naturally the Gardai were gone home.

Ay de mi!

What was the speed limit on the bypass, Zhou Enlai?

There is a problem with this across the country - it's not fair to have speed limits within speed limits on motorways. As you say, the blue signage should indicate that motorway speed limits apply.

There's something similar on the M50 southbound for absolutely no apparent reason but to confound the driver.

And those are issues for the NRA and local authorities.

Speed Limit is actually 100kmh. I cannot find any reference to the road being a motorway on the web. I can only surmise that the blue sign I saw with M9 written on it was referring to the n9/M9 project with the M9 being that short stretch of motorway that shoots off the the M7.

Can anyone tell me if I might have seen an M9 sign coming from Dublin?

Either way, it is a perfect example of the type of Garda behaviour that Seamus Brennan previously criticised.

I once tried to count the changes in speed limit on the Waterford - Carlow - Dublin route not including towns and villages and got up to 26 before giving up. Some of them are marked by a single little lollipop that can be obscured by a truck on the inside lane.

The NRA is responsible, if you want to give out to someone. If you look closely, there is usually a good reason for the slower sections - junctions, lights or whatever. It is the fault of the inconsistency of the road quality, rather than the signage.

In fairness to the NRA it is a peach of a road. I felt like really putting the foot down and getting up to 90mph but prudence got the better of me. The only reason I can see for the 100kph limit is that there are concrete barriers in the centre - very much like the Cashel bypass.